One-two-three result and lead of the standings for Audi
Ingolstadt/Brands Hatch – With his third victory of the season Martin Tomczyk recaptured the DTM lead for Audi at Brands Hatch (Great Britain). Mattias Ekström and Edoardo Mortara completed an Audi one-two-three triumph in extremely difficult conditions. For the first time drivers from all three Audi teams were on the podium.
After two days of summer-like weather rain set in just before the start of the race on Sunday. Since the DTM had never before raced at Brands Hatch on a wet track the teams and drivers were faced with a tricky task, which the Audi squad handled perfectly. From the beginning the Audi drivers set the pace. The previous front runner, Bruno Spengler (Mercedes), was almost 40 seconds behind when he crossed the finish line.
Aside from a small slip on lap 22 Tomczyk was controlling the pace throughout, securely brought his third win of the season home and also set the fastest race lap. “I’m overjoyed, the whole weekend was perfect,” said Tomczyk. “It wasn’t easy because the rain was not consistently heavy throughout the race and the rain tires didn’t have very much grip on the first laps. But my Audi A4 was sensational again today – it was fun to drive. I want to thank my team for a great set-up and a perfect strategy.”
Nürburgring winner Mattias Ekström clinched second place for Audi Sport Team Abt
Sportsline and moved forward to third place in the standings. Edoardo Mortara from
Audi Sport Team Rosberg finished third and thus achieved the first podium result in his DTM career. With a score of now 15 points the Italian who lives in Switzerland is by far the best rookie of the year.
Audi’s chances for a 1-2-3-4 result were thwarted by Ralf Schumacher: The former
Formula 1 driver touched the rear of Mike Rockenfeller’s car and forced the quickest in qualifying into a spin. “I don’t understand that he didn’t receive a penalty for that,” complained “Rocky”, who dropped to sixth place and in the final phase kept Bruno Spengler at bay.
For Audi this marked as much as the fifth victory, clinched at the seventh race. The next round will be held two weeks from now at the Motorsport Arena Oschersleben.
Martin Tomczyk will travel to the venue with a one-point advantage over Bruno Spengler. Mattias Ekström, Timo Scheider and Mike Rockenfeller still have theoretical chances for the title as well.
